Mennonite Camping Association

Established in 1960, the Mennonite Camping Association serves as a clearinghouse for directing and promoting Christian camping among Anabaptist/Mennonite conferences and congregations throughout Canada and the United States.

MCA continues to strengthen outdoor ministries whose beginnings among Anabaptists in North America date back to the 1920s. Membership in MCA provides a united voice for addressing camping concerns to the church and, in turn, gives the church a channel for relating to retreat and camping ministries. Supplementing and expanding congregational nurture, camps and retreat centers with an Anabaptist/Mennonite heritage and foundation band together through MCA to promote nourishing spiritual experiences, wholesome relationships and a vision for caring for God's world.

In a busy fragmented world, the camp/retreat environment offers all participants, staff and volunteers an opportunity to experience the meaning of living the church of Christ in a holistic way. Our camp and retreat programs and settings provide, within a limited space of time, a fully integrated experience of being the church.

We attempt to model Jesus' teachings and way of life in every dimension of daily life at camp. We also help campers/retreat goers see how these teachings connect with their life in the church, in society, and in their relationship with nature. For us, care of the earth has become an extension of Jesus' ministry. Our camps and retreat centers directly reflect an Anabaptist/Mennonite theology of Christ's peace and love as central to the gospel.